Raise Your Hand if you Make Under $250K Per Year

[rucky]

:hi:

[hobbit709]

1. Not even 10% of that.

[GreenPartyVoter]

25. Not quite 15% here

[youthere]

2. right here.

[yellowdogintexas]

3. combined household income falls into that group nt

[dennysp]

4. Both hands raised!!!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

5. ;;;

:hi:

[stoge18]

6. Raised n/t

[InkAddict]

7. Adjusted for what? Hyperinflation, deflation, stagflation? n/t

[uberblonde]

8. Does my unemployment check count?

LOL...

[rateyes]

9. ..

:hi:

[predfan]

10. It was good to hear a national figure actually try to educate the public

about raising the taxes on those making over $250,000, as Obama was talking to Joe the Plumber.

Everybody pays the same up through the various brackets, then at income over $250,000 the bracket would change from about 36% to 39% (come on, accountants, help me out here.)

Now If I'm making, say, $350,000, I may not want to pay that extra $3000 on that next hundred thousand dollars of income over $250,000, but it's not going to take food off my families table or keep my kids from going to college.

Or we can just let the grandkids assume that debt, I guess.

[derby378]

11. True dat

:hi:

[racaulk]

12. Me!

[CountAllVotes]

13. ...

how about a thumb rather than an entire hand? :D :thumbsup:

:kick:

[MadinMo]

14. Here.

[El Pinko]

15. I support a family of 4 on $40K

My wife's income is $8K, tops, so it's basically on me.

We're not rolling in it but we get by.

People who make 250K and cry that it's hard to get by are repulsively spoiled.

[roody]

16. public school teacher here

[Catshrink]

40. Me too. 'nuf said, eh?

[shadowknows69]

47. Son of two public teachers here

And y'all should be the ones making over 250k a year.

[ShortnFiery]

17. Oh yeah!

:hi:

[RebelOne]

18. $42,000 and that includes social security.

Fortunately, I only have to support myself and 2 dogs. I work full-time and also collect social security. I can't afford to only live on social security. And hopes of retiring soon have vanished along with my 401K and IRA.

[zbdent]

19. yo ...

[gopbuster]

20. Is it safe to assume 95% of us? Hand raised nt

[Spritz57]

21. But I'm good looking with a sterling personality. . .

:hi:

[guitar man]

22. here

:hi:

We'd have to multiply our income by 6.25 to get to $250k

[Suspicious]

23. Husband/Me combined = not even close

:hi:

[Javaman]

24. I'll raise two hands. both my wife and I combined make well under 100k. nt

[Cresent City Kid]

26. A brief history

1984: $4/hour
1992: $5/hour
2000: $11/hour
2008: $11/hour

All of this time was in the same industry, same dedication, same work ethic. The only difference was the party of the President of the United States.

[Ezlivin]

27. But I have a lottery ticket and it's a possible winner...

Until it comes in, though, I'm living off my disability pension which is way, way, way less than $250K/year.


:hi:

[babydollhead]

28. family of 5, $31,000 a year before taxes.

[Lyric]

29. Less than 10k a year, here. Combined. Family of three.

Thank god for our student loan disbursements--we'd never be able to make it through school without them. I'm praying that my school will be able to offer me a scholarship as of next year. My grades are fantastic, but the competition is fierce these days. *sigh*

[Gato Moteado]

30. i make less than 10% of that

and i'm proud of it!

[Kukesa]

31. Pick me, pick me, rucky (hand frantically waving). n/t

[serrano2008]

32. Nope...about a third of that

Just imagine though, if my wife and I made $250,000 total between the two of us...under Obama's plan with 39% tax rate we'd come home with: $152,500

To put that in perspective...in 1 year making $152,500 we could:

- pay off our entire house
- pay off our last financed car
- pay off all credit cards
- pay off student loans

and still have $10,000 left over. That's just in 1 year making that much.

[madmom]

33. Present....

:hi:

[flstci]

34. .

:hi:

[gollygee]

35. We make pretty good money, but less than that

We're quite comfortable but we don't come close to $250k

[SeattleGirl]

36. That would be me.

:hi:

[shadowknows69]

37. I saw numbers that big once

On a budget proposal I had to print up for a company I was working for. My part of that budget was about 18,000 but that's just nitpicking.

[magellan]

38. Two of us on 10% of that

...at a push.

[TZ]

39. No where close to that.

ALthough I make a decent wage.

[Cerridwen]

41. Over here! Even both of us combined.

Another thing that's almost always left out of these discussions about *earnings* and taxes is that wages are taxed one way; dividend income another; long term investments another; short term investments another; self-employed/small business income has some other hoops; etc. and so on.

I used to prepare -simple- taxes but I worked for a CPA who specialized in small businesses and their taxes so I saw and learned about those as well.

"Joe the plumber" would have received several tax breaks which may have kept him under the 250K threshold for quite some time. I've seen taxes where a single guy running a small business made close to 100K and still qualified for the earned income credit because of all of his business write-offs.

Those trucks he was talking about buying would have been depreciated; gas expenses written off; maintenance, truck payments and insurance as well; office furniture and office expenses, inventory, cost of goods, utilities, wages and health insurance payments, and so on - you get the idea. If good ol' Joe had a good CPA, he could make well over 250K and manage to write himself down and avoid the threshold. Hell, even the CPA expense and tax prep are write offs.

But, and this is frequently avoided, the way the tax law is written, ol' Joe and other small businesses (look up the IRS definition for small business sometime. I think it's 500 employees.) don't reap near the benefits and write offs as major corporations and multi-nationals. "Small business" is just another repub and r/w canard. They do little to nothing to benefit what you and I think of as small business (mom and pop shops) and frequently write tax law that benefits major business and leaves out the plumber Joes of the world.

Do NOT take any of this as tax advice. I am far from an expert and I'm a bit rusty. If you have tax questions, call the IRS and/or your CPA.

BTW, now is a good time to start getting your stuff together for taxes <<<<<<<<---- public service announcement. LOL

:hi:



eta: can't believe I forgot this part - stock sales and purchases are another calculation and stock losses are a write off. Again, this is not set in stone (or the IRS tax code) and tax laws change almost every year.

[Greyhound]

42. Even when I was still living very well in LA, I never made $250K.

In fact anybody that does is in the top 3%.
:hi:

[Liberal In Texas]

43. Hand up. No danger of having my taxes go up under Pres. Obama.

And if I got into that category, I don't think I'd care at all.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

44. FAR less! :D

:hi: In fact, I qualify for the earned income tax credit.

[LeftHander]

45. I make 4 million in sal 1 million in bonus....500k retention bonus

I just reupped my employment contract as Executive Director of Finance Operations with AIG...

This is a good year for me...28% increase...and I won't have to pay taxes!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH THANKS W!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAH
HAHAHAHAHAHABWAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHBWAHAHAHAHAH

[slampoet]

46. (sound of crickets)